Determination of the Density and Dielectric Constant of Thin Ta[sub 2]O[sub 5] Films

Abstract

The density of anodically formed thin films on sputtered tantalum has been measured in situ. The method used is the measurement of the average density of the assemblage tantalum‐tantalum oxide and subsequent separation of the contributions of each component to this measured density. From a knowledge of the stoichiometry of the reaction, both the thickness and the angstrom per volt values (thickness of oxide formed per volt) can be determined for the oxide. Application of the capacitance formula for a parallelplate capacitor leads to a value for η. The values obtained are: Density; ; anodization constant, ; dielectric constant, at 1 kcps.